You are here

Suspected thief surrenders after being exposed

During the first half of January 2014, CNC3’s popular talk show Crime Watch has been successful in solving a number of cases. One day after his investigation began, Ian Alleyne, host of the show, located the suspect in a break-in at a Central foreign used car parts store. The Chaguanas man surrendered to acting Senior Supt Johnny Abraham and police at a cemetery in Chaguanas. He was subsequently charged at the Chaguanas Police Station.

In an unrelated incident, Kevin Lord, of St Joseph, had his car seized by police at Chaguanas in December 2013, and was told it would be returned to him in four years. Ian directed Lord to visit acting Senior Supt Abraham, who assisted with recovering his vehicle from the police one day after his television appearance.

A San Juan bar owner was also propelled into action after Shanice McKellar, of Tobago, claimed he owed her $16,000 since October 2013. The day after McKellar’s television appearance, an associate of the businessman delivered $7,000 to Ian at the Crime Watch studio. His associate reported that the bar owner was out of the country, but will be back in two weeks to pay the balance. Alleyne gave McKellar strict instructions to contact him again if the businessman does not meet the deadline.

Double blow for Bruce family
A Laventille man was severely injured when he was chopped by a male relative on December 5. Steve Bruce was asleep in his Eastern Quarry, Laventille, home when he was attacked. He told Ian the incident was not being investigated, and the assigned officer had not contacted him. Photos of the scene of the chopping and the injuries Bruce had suffered were considered too graphic for television.

Tragedy hit the Bruce family again when their home, which belongs to Pearl Bruce Edwards, was burned down on December 23. The house was also the scene of the gruesome chopping of Edwards’s son, Steve Bruce, earlier in December. Edwards believes a female relative is responsible for the arson attack. It is yet to be determined whether the two incidents are related. Minister of Social Development and the People Dr Glen Ramadharsingh was contacted and pledged his assistance.

Daniel Austin, marketing manager of XTra Foods Supermarket, presented Edwards with a hamper, one of ten donated to Crime Watch on a monthly basis.

Help solve these crimes
Some crimes reported to Crime Watch still remain unsolved. Mystery surrounds the murder of 48-year-old San Juan resident Ganesh Daniram, whose body was found in the Caroni River earlier this month.

Some time after he left a San Juan bar on the night of January 1, Daniram was shot in the head, his feet tied to a brick and his body dumped in the river near the Caroni Bird Sanctuary. His blue Toyota Fielder, PCZ 4555, is still missing, although Ian has received information that it had been spotted in a hilly area in Arima. Anyone locating the vehicle could assist authorities in solving the seventh murder of 2014.

Meanwhile, Farisha Mohammed, the mother of murder victim Salisha Langtoo, appeared on Crime Watch pleading with anyone who has information on the killing to come forward. Twenty-three-year-old Langtoo, who lived at McBean, Couva, was found dead at the Chaguanas Public Cemetery on December 11, 2013. Autopsy results showed Langtoo was bludgeoned to death. Mohammed told Ian she believes that two surviving victims of the attack could provide valuable information.

Have you seen Alex Leith?
When 20-year-old Alex Aaron Leith left his Petit Valley home on December 21, his mother Petronella Burke expected him to return a few hours later—but he has not been seen or heard from since. In an off-camera interview earlier this week, Burke said: “It’s like he just disappeared, just disappeared from the world. After 20 years, do you know how hard that is? He is my last child.” She could not compose herself enough to appear on television a third time.

Leith, also known as “Happy Feet,” was last seen wearing a green and white T-shirt, grey jeans and green and white sneakers.